To Avoid Embarrassment, China Has Banned Its Rich Kids from Appearing on Reality TV

By Michael Cuby

Apr 21 2016

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In the pilot episode for Rich Kids of Beverly Hills — which premiered its fourth season last Sunday — Dorothy Wang, daughter of Golden Eagle International Group CEO Roger Wang (worth $3.2 billion), planned a charity blood drive and expected all of her friends to come and support her. One of her longtime friends, Jonny Drubel, refused to come, however — pointing to the American Red Cross’s slightly homophobic policy of not accepting blood from gay men as his primary reasoning. The openly gay musician believed that it would have been an affront to his identity.

As Dorothy accused Jonny of refusing to “see outside of himself,” even for a second, Jonny retorted with a quote that instantly made the rounds online for its obtuseness and utterly ridiculous implications. “I don’t expect you to understand because you’re not a minority,” Jonny, a white man, said to Dorothy, his voice completely serious. Dorothy, an Asianwoman, paused, looked at Jonny and, while flailing her hands around her face as if to indicate LOOK AT ME, rhetorically asked, “I’m not a minority?!”

Jonny’s statement is indicative of a privileged life that was afforded to him, one that effectively placed him at the center of his own universe. Although not all rich people are perhaps that thickheaded, China has taken efforts to ensure that those that are don’t get to show that they are on a platform as big as, say, E! Entertainment — where Rich Kids airs every Sunday.

According to Xinhua, China’s state news agency, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television (SAPRFT) reported on a recent state censor that banned the children of rich parents from appearing on reality TV. According to the original report, the ban was instated in an effort to protect these children from exploitation by TV executives, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, local critics believe that the ban is a move to prevent these reckless rich kids from further embarrassing both their parents and their state government.